Horse seems healthy all aroun but is extremely skinny, don't know what to do

I only had horses as a kid. In a long story, we have ended up with five horses we rescued in december. All were body score 1-2. All now look fantastic except for one, a yearling stud quarter horse colt. His eyes are clear, nose isn't runny, eats well, wormed regularly, stools are solid. He is still at a 1-2 body score. Nobody else will take the horses and we don't have the money for a vet. All our money goes their feed and hay. Anybody have any ideas before we break ourselves with vet bills???

I have been using beet pulp, alfalfa pellets, black oil sunflower seeds, and oats in my 22 yo QH gelding with a similar body score. Feed one cup of each 2x a day. So far so good, he loves it but you have to watch out for founder. Check the temp of his feet (with your hand) morning and night and if his temp goes up back him off of it. I'm not a vet though and a vet is the best bet. I totally understand the $$ thing though. What is he getting for food now?

Babies need a lot of protein to grow and maintain their weight though.

I'd say you should pump up his feed. Yearlings are at a stage where they grow like weeds. Their bodies are transitioning from the foal stage to maturing into a full grown horse, so he may be growing up faster than he can fill out.
My best advice would be to give him some extra feed to help compensate for his growth. I'm pretty sure if you feed him some extra hay he'll start to fill out more.

And I know you didn't ask about it, but are you planning on gelding him? It'll be a lot easier to keep and handle him once he reaches maturity, and if you want to re-home him, I think more people are willing to accept taking in a gelding rather than a stallion.

We have burmuda hay and wheat straw out there, they get some alfalfa everyday, and I can't think of the name of feed but looks like large pellets of alfalfa but it's ot alfalfa lol. He gets about 3 pounds of that daily.

Really, 3 lbs. Of whatever pellets you're giving him, along with the straw and bermuda hay, just aren't enough for a growing foal.

Foals need even more food than adults believe it or not, because they're trying to grow and gain weight. I'd say at the very minimum, that baby needs 6 lbs. Of grain per day plus all the hay he can eat.

I'd say you should pump up his feed. Yearlings are at a stage where they grow like weeds. Their bodies are transitioning from the foal stage to maturing into a full grown horse, so he may be growing up faster than he can fill out.
My best advice would be to give him some extra feed to help compensate for his growth. I'm pretty sure if you feed him some extra hay he'll start to fill out more.

And I know you didn't ask about it, but are you planning on gelding him? It'll be a lot easier to keep and handle him once he reaches maturity, and if you want to re-home him, I think more people are willing to accept taking in a gelding rather than a stallion.

yes, do plan on gelding him especially since he isn't papered. We have another colt we rescued with him that has grown great and is filled out very nicely and muscled up. Ghost, the little troubled one, hasn't grown much and honestly has dropped his muscle mass is seems. We havehad over month of 100+ weather here so I know that's not helping any! He doesn't seem to be uncomfortable but he sure doesn't look good

Really, 3 lbs. Of whatever pellets you're giving him, along with the straw and bermuda hay, just aren't enough for a growing foal.

Foals need even more food than adults believe it or not, because they're trying to grow and gain weight. I'd say at the very minimum, that baby needs 6 lbs. Of grain per day plus all the hay he can eat.

Ok that's good to know. We had been told to feed them all 10% of their weight so I was thinking I wasgiving him extra. We'll bump it up more then and see ifthat helps

Might be a weird question, but does it make any difference what time of day I feed them? I've always fed in the evening. Our pasture is pretty bare since we haven't had rain in a couple of months here, but we keep a couple of round bales out there for free feeding 24/7

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